Ghost Story
by Laurus Nobilis
Summary: When the wealthy Kinomotos bought their new castle, they had been warned that they would find a ghost in it. Fusion with Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost


_Disclaimer:_ Al characters from Card Captor Sakura belong to CLAMP.

_Author's Note:_ A fusion with Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost", written for the LJ community Tsukimine Shrine.

**Ghost story**

Before the wealthy Kinomoto family moved into their newly bought castle, they had been warned that they would find a ghost in it. For the most part, they didn't mind. Dad had never seen a ghost in his life, and he didn't expect to see one anytime soon. Mum and Touya were too used to spirits to be upset about one more. As for the twins... well, it was Dad's opinion that Eriol and Takashi would scare the ghost away.

For Sakura, however, it was a completely different story. In spite of Mum's reassurances about them, she had always been terrified of ghosts. Touya teased her mercilessly, saying that she was too old to be afraid, but she couldn't help it. Why her parents insisted in bringing her to that awful place, she didn't understand. They _knew_ it was haunted!

And it wasn't any ghost, the one who dwelt in the castle. Its former owners had told them all about him: he had been haunting the place for over three hundred years now, scaring away all those who dared try to live there. He had even killed his own wife- and that was _before_ becoming a ghost! Yet Mum and Dad didn't seem to mind at all, and the Kinomotos moved into their new residence as if it had been built the previous day.

Sakura found proof that she was right the very moment they entered the castle, but she wasn't sure it was a good thing. Right in front of her, next to the fireplace, there was a pool of red blood.

"Hoeee!!!" she exclaimed, hiding behind Dad, who leaned forward curiously. Why was everyone looking at the stain as if it was something wonderful?

"Is that blood?" Takashi asked, as if he was talking about a new toy.

"Human?" added Eriol with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Yes, and yes," said Wei, the old butler who had served the previous owners of the castle. "That is the exact spot where our ghost murdered his wife. It is a historical blood stain, more than three centuries old."

"You mean nobody's cleaned this place for three hundred years?" Touya said, looking at the stain with mild annoyance. "That's not exactly hygienic, is it?"

Wei had no time to reply, for Touya had already found some detergent and proceeded to mercilessly wipe the blood away. No sooner had he finished than the lights went off; there was a flash of lightning, and the rumble of thunder made everyone jump.

However, only Sakura was still frightened after the first shock. She looked around and found that the rest of them seemed calm -Wei perhaps a little pale, though- as if nothing had happened.

Dad pushed up his glasses and blinked.

"You have quite a nasty weather here," he said. "Does it always change so abruptly?"

"Weather? That, sir, was the ghost himself!" the butler exclaimed; Sakura moved even closer to Dad. "You have angered him already. Wiping that stain wasn't a very wise thing to do, young man."

"Oh, I'm sure he won't mind us," said Mum with a smile. "We won't annoy him too much."

Eriol and Takashi burst into barely controlled fits of laughter.

"Well," muttered Wei, "at least remember that I have warned you."

* * *

Sakura was the last one to get up the following day, because she'd had a lot of trouble to sleep. No other strange things had happened; but, alone in that huge old room, the mere thought of a ghost wandering around the castle was enough to keep her awake. She had finally given in to sleep, though, and the rest of her family was already gathered for breakfast when she went downstairs.

Nobody even mentioned the ghost; it seemed they hadn't heard nor seen anything out of the ordinary, either. Instead, Mum and Dad were talking about their plans for the day. New as they were in the region, it was important that they should meet other people who lived there. So, it had been arranged that they would spend the day with the Li family.

Sakura had fun that day; the Lis were interesting enough to make her forget everything about the ghost. Their son, Shaoran, was about her age. He seemed to be a nice boy, but he had the strange habit of blushing and running away whenever she tried to talk to him.

When the Kinomotos returned home that evening, they were too tired to think about ghosts. Even Sakura went straight to bed, and soon enough she was sound asleep.

* * *

Clow Reed, once a very proud mage and now a very proud ghost, found the new inhabitants of his castle greatly annoying. In all his years -no, _centuries_!- of haunting the place, he had never been so insulted. How dared they ignore him like that?

The little girl, Sakura, was the only one who had enough sense to be scared of him; but the rest... Clow grimaced at the thought. He hadn't been such a powerful wizard for nothing. They should fear him, even in death- especially in death!

And so they would, he swore. This was the ideal night: it was darker than ever, not a sound could be heard, and the Kinomotos slept peacefully, ignorant of their fate.

In perfect silence, he glided towards the wing of the castle where the intruders' bedrooms were. He was nearly there, ready to fulfil his plans, when a horrible vision stopped him. There was something in the hall, right in front of him; a monster! It was covered with a huge, pale cloak, and through its eyes shone a yellow light, devilish enough to make even a ghost like Clow panic and back away.

After all, it was the first time that he saw a ghost. Since when did other spectres haunt his castle...?

Clow's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Since when, really? As if to vanish his doubts, from across the hall came the muffled sound of barely contained laughter.

Now, that was _it_! Roaring with rage, he threw himself onto the twins, who had kicked away their sheets and lanterns and were now howling with laughter- and then a door opened.

"What's all this racket?" their father said sleepily from his bedroom's entrance. "It's too late for these games, boys. Go back to bed."

From behind him, his wife looked at Clow with worry. Well, at least _someone_ was properly frightened!

"You don't sound well at all," she said, interrupting his thoughts. "Would you like some milk and honey?"

Clow stared. Then, recovering himself, he was about to attack... but he saw a pair of matching evil grins directed at him, and changed his mind.

For the first time in three hundred years, Clow Reed fled.

* * *

In her room, Sakura had covered herself way over her head with her blankets. That didn't stop the noises, however, and she trembled just to think about them. What was going on out there?

As suddenly as it had started, the racket stopped. Sakura peeped out of her bed: there was nothing strange around her. But what if that didn't last? Gathering all her courage, she decided to take the chance and go to her parents' bedroom before the ghost appeared again.

She ran blindly down the long, dark corridors until she bumped into someone- or, rather, _passed through_ someone. She stopped dead, not daring to look back.

"G- Gh- ..."

"Ghost?"

She turned around with a jump, to find herself face to face with a dark-haired man in old fashioned clothes: the ghost himself. And he was... smiling?

"It is so nice of you to be scared of me," he said.

"...hoe?"

"Well, your parents and your brother- they are impossible to frighten. And those horrible twins!"

For a moment, Sakura forgot she was dealing with a ghost and simply stared at him. She certainly hadn't been expecting _that_.

"But... but why do you want to scare people?"

"I am a ghost! What would you have me do?" he huffed. "Nights are very long when one cannot sleep, and it gets terribly boring..."

"You mean you have to stay awake all the time?" Sakura exclaimed, horrified. She couldn't imagine how anyone could stand that, even if they were dead; she loved to sleep!

The ghost nodded silently, sitting down with his back to the wall.

"I have not slept in three hundred years."

Sakura suddenly felt sorry for him, ghost or not. She sat down beside him, which seemed to surprise him a lot.

"That's very sad," she said. "You know... you're not at all how I had imagined you."

"No?"

"They had told us very bad things about you," she continued. "They said you had killed your wife."

"She was far too possessive!" the ghost said with a frown. "And I had never liked her, anyway."

"That was still a very bad thing to do!" Sakura chided him.

"I know," he sighed. "I have been paying for that ever since."

Sakura looked at him thoughtfully. He seemed so tired and miserable that she couldn't help pitying him.

"Is that why you are a ghost?" she asked in a soft voice. He nodded.

"I did not lead a good life, and now I cannot find peace," he whispered sadly. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" she asked. "Is there a way you can have some rest?"

"There is a way," he said. "There is a way... if you would help me. For you are a sweet little girl, and you have always been good- and if you have mercy on me, and weep for my sins, perhaps Death will have mercy on me too. But first, you must come with me, and it will be frightening..."

"I will help you," Sakura said, shaken but decided. "I'm a little afraid, but I'll do my best."

"You would?" the ghost whispered.

"I want to help," she assured him. "But I don't know if it will work..."

He shook his head and smiled brightly at her.

"With you," he said, "everything will be alright."

* * *

Touya might have been able to sleep through the noise made by a ghost _and_ his brothers, but he knew when something was wrong. And, right now, something was wrong with Sakura.

Awakened by this nagging feeling, he ran to his sister's room, only to find that she was gone. Trying to remain calm, he went to her parents' bedroom, but they hadn't seen her. The twins had no idea of where she was, either.

The whole family set out to look for her, splitting up to cover every corner of the castle and its grounds. But morning passed and there still were no signs of Sakura. Wei, who had been to town to see if there were any news of her there, came back without any- but he brought the Li brat with him.

Apparently, they had met on the way back to the castle, and the kid had insisted on coming, as anxious to find Sakura as any of her relatives were. On any other time, Touya would have kicked him out of the grounds, but now every help to find his sister was needed.

Still, they had no success, and evening came without her returning. It was a sad time; even Eriol and Takashi looked gloomy. But, just as they gathered to see what they would do next, the sound of soft footsteps attracted their attention as if it had been an explosion.

"Sakura, my child!" Mum exclaimed. "Where _have_ you been?"

* * *

Sakura found herself hugged and stared at by everybody at the same time, without completely realising why. Had she been gone for so long...?

"It was him, wasn't it?" Touya's voice resounded over everyone else's. "If that ghost has hurt you, I'll-"

"He didn't hurt me," Sakura said. "He's gone."

That was enough to make all of them silent. Their looks were more than expressive, though, so she continued her story.

"He just needed some help," she went on, "and now... he should be resting, now. He told me, to know if it worked, to look at the old cherry tree."

"The cherry tree?" repeated Takashi. "But it's dead!"

"Not anymore," Eriol said, pointing to the window. "Look!"

Everybody turned around, but Sakura was the first to reach the window. All her doubts disappeared then, and she smiled as brightly as ever: delicate pink cherry blossoms covered the long dead branches.

"It worked!" she exclaimed. "He has been forgiven, and now he won't have to wander around here anymore."

"You're an angel," said Mum, smiling, and kissed the top of her head. Sakura blushed slightly.

"I only wanted to help," she said, and tried to get away from the crowd as soon as she could. She would want to join them again soon, she was sure, but for now she just wanted to think. However, somebody approached her from behind, so quietly she didn't notice it until she heard his voice.

"I- I just wanted to say you did a good job," Shaoran stammered.

Somehow, that simple thing made her smile brightly.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed.

Shaoran blushed.


End file.
